On December 30, 1968, The Spokesman-Review of Spokane,
Washington, ran an advertisement for a concert at Gonzaga
University featuring “The Vanilla Fudge, with Len Zefflin”—
a concert of which a bootleg recording would later emerge
that represents the first-ever live Led Zeppelin performance
captured on tape.
On December 28, 1895, the world’s first commercial movie
screening took place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film
was made by Louis and Auguste Lumière, two French
brothers who developed a camera-projector called the
Cinematographe.
The Lumière brothers unveiled their invention to the public
in March 1895 with a brief film showing workers leaving the
Lumière factory.
On December 28, the entrepreneurial siblings screened a
series of short scenes from everyday French life and
charged admission for the first time.
Auguste (left) and Louis Lumière.
In addition to the Cinematographe, the Lumières also developed
the first practical color photography process, the Autochrome
plate, which debuted in 1907.
The first photograph taken by humans of Earthrise during
the Apollo 8 mission.
The prime crew of the Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission pose
for a portrait next to the Apollo Mission Simulator at the
Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Left to right, they are
James A. Lovell Jr., command module pilot; William
A. Anders, lunar module pilot; and Frank Borman,
commander.
Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, returns safely
to Earth after an historic six-day journey.
On December 21, Apollo 8 was launched by a three-stage
Saturn 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with
astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and
William Anders aboard.
On Christmas Eve, the astronauts entered into orbit around
the moon, the first manned spacecraft ever to do so.
During Apollo 8‘s 10 lunar orbits, television images were sent
back home and spectacular photos were taken of the Earth
and the moon from the spacecraft.
In addition to being the first human beings to view firsthand
their home world in its entirety, the three astronauts were
also the first to see the far side of the moon.
On Christmas morning, Apollo 8 left its lunar orbit and began
its journey back to Earth, landing safely in the Pacific Ocean
on December 27 (below).
ROSS SIMPSON
